England clinched a comfortable victory over the Barbarians at Twickenham

The duo, who were both likely starters against the Pumas, departed to shoulder injuries in the first half of a frantic but error-ridden contest.

With England already down to the bare bones at inside centre and flanker because of Lions call-ups – and with the potential to lose another back row – Tom Wood – to suspension after he was sent off for Northampton on Friday, Eddie Jones has some headaches for the tour.

The England coach travels to South America with a restorative win under his belt though after the end of his side’s 17-match unbeaten run in Ireland in their last match.

As this was a friendly it will not count in the record books but a win felt good regardless – particularly for Chris Robshaw whose last experience of leading England at the 2015 World Cup was so painful.

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Eddie Jones named a number of England debutants against the Barbarians

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George Ford was clinical with his boot against the Barbarians

Along with his co-captain George Ford, who kicked 13 points, Robshaw gave a reassuring lead to the young tyros Jones had brought in.

The early departure of Underhill, after coming off second best from an attempted big hit on Richard Hibbard, allowed Sale’s Tom Curry to show his skills and it was the man of the match's turnover 12 minutes from time that delivered the ball for another teenager, Nick Isiekwe, to kill off the Barbarians with England’s match-winning second try.

Isiekwe was not the only young Saracen to shine. Nathan Earle, who spent a spell last year with Canterbury in New Zealand, made an eye-catching contribution for England in attack and defence and with a strapping wing high on Jones’s future wish list he did himself no harm whatsoever at Twickenham.

The 22-year-old scored England’s first try in the 17th minute from Sam James’s inside pass – grotesquely against the run of play – and tracked back to pull off an important cover tackle on Facundo Isa.

England won every match they played 2016, and eventually went 18 games unbeaten

The Barbarians tactic of running everything was a challenging approach for captain Thierry Dusautoir, who at 35 was probably playing his last game, but it could have brought a try for the ages early on started behind their own line had Mike Brown not intervened with a high tackle.

Their reward eventually came just after half time as Robbie Fruean’s break enabled the classy Alex Goode to put Adam Ashley-Cooper in for a try converted from the touchline by Ian Madigan.

They were unfortunate not to score again when the video referee adjudged that Joe Tekori has lost the ball forwards in the build-up to Jeremy Thrush going over. The fractional shake-up of the head from stoic Barbarians coach Vern Cotter in response equated to a manic rant against the injustice.

By the time Tekori muscled his way over the Barbarians, who lost prop Mikheil Nariashvili to the sin-bin for repeated scrum infringements in the 55th minute, were cooked and Danny Care added the glaze with England’s third try in injury time.